Further, new research using sophisticated imaging techniques suggests
that meditation can alter brain activity in a way that reduces stress.

It's as if science, once again, is validating an ancient practice. East
and West find common ground.

Buddhist concepts

The late philosopher Karl Jaspers, in writing about Buddhist teachings,
described a doctrine whereby truths are reinforced and established only by
meditation. In Jaspers' words, this involves the carrying of ``light into
the depth'' and the creation of an awareness that ``illumines the
unconscious down to the last nook and cranny.''

Buddhism teaches that meditation is a cultivation of concentration, and a
state of wakefulness. In the book Destructive Emotions, thought-free
wakefulness is described as the mind being ``open, vast and aware, with no
intentional mental activity. This mind is not focused on anything, yet
totally present -- not in a focused way, just very open and
undistracted.''

Thus, the big challenge: How to still our thoughts, quit the mental
conversations we have with ourselves, and just hush up.

There are so many techniques and forms of meditation. Centering prayer,
for example, is a common Christian form. It often involves repeating a
mantra -- a single word or phrase over and over -- while pushing all other
thoughts aside. (To be sure, the repeating of a mantra is common in other
forms of meditation as well.)

I first tried centering prayer nearly two years ago, after hearing about
it in a scripture study class at my church. For nearly a year, I had
almost no success; thoughts kept coming into my mind, and it was difficult
to set them aside for more than a minute or two.

Meditative process

It wasn't until I read Wayne Dyer's book, There's A Spiritual Solution To
Every Problem, that I started to make progress. It's not a how-to book on
meditation -- but meditation is explained throughout in various passages.
Dyer helped me understand that at least in part, meditation is a process
of moving into the gap between your own thoughts.

"When we empty our mind of our ego-driven thoughts we invite forgiveness
into our hearts,'' he wrote. ``And by letting go of the lower energies of
hatred, shame and revenge, we create a mind-set of problem resolution.''

But, oh, it's not easy.

In his book Contemplative Prayer, the late Trappist monk Thomas Merton
got down to the practical difficulty of meditation.

"One cannot begin to face the real difficulties of the life of prayer and
meditation unless one is first perfectly content to be a beginner and
really experience himself as one who knows little or nothing, and has a
desperate need to learn the bare rudiments,'' Merton said. ``We do not
want to be beginners. But let us be convinced of the fact that we will
never be anything else but beginners, all our life!''